Terms : Hide Images
| 10471340584 | audience | The listener, viewer, or reader of a text. Most texts are likely to have multiple audiences. | 0 | |
| 10471340585 | concession | An acknowledgment that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable. In a strong argument, a concession is usually accompanied by a refutation challenging the validity of the opposing argument. | 1 | |
| 10471341349 | connotation | Meanings or associations that reader have with a word beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation. Connotations are usually positive or negative, and they can greatly affect the author's tone. | 2 | |
| 10471342164 | context | The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text. | 3 | |
| 10471344153 | counterargument | An opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward. Rather than ignoring a counterargument, a strong writer will usually address it through the process of concession and refutation. | 4 | |
| 10471400288 | ethos | Greek for "character." Speakers appeal to ethos to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic. Ethos is established by both who you are and what you say. | 5 | |
| 10471401287 | logos | Greek for "embodied thought." Speakers appeal to logos, or reason, by offering clear, rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back them up. | 6 | |
| 10471403133 | occasion | The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written. | 7 | |
| 10471660295 | pathos | Greek for "suffering" or "experience." Speakers appeal to pathos to emotionally motivate their audience. More specific appeals to pathos might play on the audience's values, desires, and hopes, on the one hand, or fears and prejudices, on the other. | 8 | |
| 10471660296 | persona | Greek for "mask." The face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience. | 9 | |
| 10471666024 | polemic | Greek for "hostile." An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others. Polemics generally do not concede that opposing opinions have any merit. | 10 | |
| 10471666517 | propaganda | The spread of ideas and information to further a cause. In its negative sense, propaganda is the use of rumors, lies, disinformation, and scare tactics in order to damage or promote a cause. | 11 | |
| 10471666518 | purpose | The goal the speaker wants to achieve. | 12 | |
| 10471668567 | refutation | A denial of the validity of an opposing argument. In order to sound reasonable, refutations often follow a concession that acknowledges that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable. | 13 | |
| 10471669119 | rhetoric | As Aristotle defined the term, "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." In other words, it is the art of finding ways to persuade an audience. | 14 | |
| 10471671767 | rhetorical appeals | Rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. The three major appeals are to ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion). | 15 | |
| 10471672466 | rhetorical triangle (Aristotelian triangle) | A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text. | 16 | |
| 10471674215 | SOAPS | A mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker. | 17 | |
| 10471674803 | subject | The topic of a text. What the text is about. | 18 | |
| 10471674804 | text | While this term generally means the written word, in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be "read" -- meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, and much more. | 19 |
